Dangerous Hearts

Charlie's POV I was currently walking to the hospital to my eight to seven shift, running through my mental list of what I needed to do once I got to work and when I got home to take Oliver to school before promptly passing out for the rest of the day until pick up time, when I heard what sounded like gunshots and running footsteps that stopped me in my tracks. A normal person probably would have panicked and ran in the opposite direction, but as a nurse, and apparently an i***t, I did the opposite and ran in that direction to see if anyone was hurt. I managed to narrowly miss a couple of men in black clothing sprint from one of the alleyways and off to a vehicle that sped away as soon as the doors were shut, before I turned to look in the darkness of where they came from. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the new darkness, but when they did, I was able to see someone crouched on the ground, and I rushed forward without thinking. "Are you okay?" I asked as soon as I was close enough to actually see the person. In a split second, I was staring down the barrel of a gun aimed between my eyes. Believe it or not, it wasn't the first time that had happened to me, so I wasn't as terrified as I probably should have been. I focused on the man holding it to me instead, "I'm a nurse. Are you hurt?" Cold eyes stared back at me before the gun was lowered, and he grunted, wincing as he slid further onto the ground, holding onto his abdomen. I slowly walked up to him and knelt in front of him, "Can I see?" He didn't say anything, but he moved his hand and kept his eyes trained on me the whole time. I slowly lifted his shirt up to see the wound. It was only bleeding a little bit, so it missed any major arteries and organs, but there wasn't an exit wound, so the bullet was still in him. "We should get you to the hospital," I said softly, still examining him, "they'll be able to help you." "No hospital. I'll be fine," he said quietly, his accented voice deep and clear. I spared him a glance and a slight glare before sighing, "At least let me patch you up before I go then." He grunted his assent, and I knew that he was going to let me work on him. I pulled my purse in front of me to grab my first aid kit, making sure that my movements were slow and precise so I didn't cause him any alarm. I really didn't want to get shot today or anytime soon, really. I had a little boy to get back home to, and I wasn't going to do anything that would get me killed. "I'm going to have to pull the bullet out since there isn't an exit wound, and then I'll stitch you up." I pulled the tweezers, some alcohol, a needle and some thread, and bandages out of the box and laid them out beside me for easy access and lightly probed the area around the wound to see if I could locate where the bullet was lodged. Once I'd located it, I poured the alcohol on my hands and the tweezers to sterilize them and went to work on him. He stayed still and silent as I literally dug into him, his eyes never wavering from watching my every move as I carefully pulled it out and sat it down on the ground. I wanted to make sure that I hadn't nicked anything important before sewing him back up, and I hadn't. I wiped away the excess blood and carefully stitched the wound back together before applying the bandages and packing everything neatly back into the kit. I'd clean everything and restock it later. Once it was back in my purse, I sighed and stood up slowly, "Keep the wound clean and covered for a couple of days, in a week or two you should be as good as new. Have someone cut the stitches out, and you'll be back to normal. I've got to go to work now," I turned and headed to work, knowing that I was going to get a write-up for being late again, "Stay out of trouble, will you?" I called back behind me, knowing that his eyes had never once strayed from me the entire time I was in his presence. I hoped he'd be okay in the meantime. The hospital was still two blocks away, I was nearly half an hour late for my shift, so I took off at a jog to try and make up for my lost time. Please don't fire me. Please don't fire me. I chanted all the way there.